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<title>Friends to Lovers by my-man-mando (orphan_account)</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29613174">Friends to Lovers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/my-man-mando'>my-man-mando (orphan_account)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Triple Frontier (2019)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Gender Neutral, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Pining, Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, headcanons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 16:55:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>682</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29613174</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/my-man-mando</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Request: I was wondering if you had any thought on a friends to lovers type situation with Benny? </p>
<p>Gender neutral. SFW.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Miller (Triple Frontier)/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Friends to Lovers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <ul>
<li>You and Benny are so comfortable with each other - very tactile, lots of banter - that it comes across as blatant flirting to everyone else (it’s totally flirting, you’re both in denial).</li>
<li>You regularly <strike>steal</strike> wear Benny’s hoodies.</li>
<li>If you’re dating someone, Benny is soooo jealous and protective. He’ll keep an eye on the other person, making comments that they better treat you right.</li>
<li>You play-wrestle and fake-fight all the time until someone accidentally gets hurt. If Benny gets hurt, i.e. you elbowed him in the face, he pouts and makes a big show of being MAJORLY injured (he’s not). He won’t stop loudly complaining until you shower him in affection and coo apologies at him (”oh poor baby, did you get a wittle bruise? do you want me to kiss it better?”)</li>
<li>Benny always laughs it off with a playful shove. </li>
<li>Until one day he doesn’t.</li>
<li>There’s an awkward silence. It takes you 2 full seconds to register what just happened. </li>
<li>The way he’s looking at you is…different. Very different. He’s not laughing. He’s not mouthing off. He’s staring at you. And he swallows this giant gulp.</li>
<li>You’ve never seen him look at you like that. Like he’s so obviously thirsty for you and it sends you reeling.</li>
<li>It drives a wedge between you and Benny for a while. Too long. Everyone notices that you’re both quiet and distant around each other - no more flirting, no more touching. Neither of you acknowledges the incident for fear of ruining your friendship.</li>
<li>Will confronts Benny about it first. “What’s going on between you two? Did you stick your foot in your mouth again?”</li>
<li>Benny is AGITATED. He spends more time at the gym and on the shooting range, blowing off steam. He’s confused, but also strangely clear-headed about what he wants. </li>
<li>And that’s you.</li>
<li>After a long talk with Will, Benny sorts himself out and shows up on your doorstep in the middle of the night. His hat is crushed in his hands. He’s a little green around the gills.</li>
<li>“So…does your offer still stand?” he says with a nervous little laugh that you have NEVER heard from him in your entire life when he’s always been so confident and cocky around you.</li>
<li>“For what?”</li>
<li>Oh Jesus. Oh God. He has to admit it out loud now??? He has to SAY that he wants to kiss you? Holy shit, he can barely keep himself together just THINKING about kissing you. He’s about to twist his hat in two.</li>
<li>“You promised me a kiss.”</li>
<li>As soon as the words leave his mouth, he’s pretty sure he’s not breathing anymore. </li>
<li>Until he notices that you’re not slamming the door in his face. You’re not rejecting him. You’re staying. And you’re not saying no.</li>
<li>That trademark troublemaker grin twitches at the corner of Benny’s mouth and he can BARELY contain his enthusiasm.</li>
<li>“I’m afraid that offer expired a while ago,” you reply.</li>
<li>Benny’s heart DROPS. You might as well have kicked him in the gut, he looks so disappointed.</li>
<li>Just as Benny glances down to hide the crushed look on his face, you continue.</li>
<li>“But you’re in luck.”</li>
<li>He looks up at you with this fragile hope in his eyes that makes your heart stutter-skip. And you realize that hope had always been in his eyes when he looked at you before but you never noticed. How could you not have noticed????</li>
<li>“There’s a buy one, get one free deal on special request.”</li>
<li>Benny can’t hold himself back. He laughs in disbelief and relief and excitement as he reaches out and scoops you up in his arms.</li>
<li>It’s a messy kiss where you’re both laughing and also a little desperate after years of pent up pining. You pull him inside without letting go, punctuated by a dozen more little kisses and nuzzles and neither of you can keep your damn hands off of each other.</li>
<li>When your friends find out you’re finally together, they’re not surprised AT ALL and they’re already sick of your disgustingly cute PDA omg get a room for God’s sake.</li>
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